Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst: Rethinking U.S. Policy Toward Russia

Publication Date: December 1993

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Kim R. Holmes

Research Area: Government

Keywords: Russia and Eurasia

Type: Report

Coverage: Russia (Federation)

Abstract:

The disappointing outcome of the Russian elections should serve as a wake-up call to the Clinton Administration. The dramatic success at the polls of hard-line nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, communists, and other anti-democrats changes not only the political equation inside Russia but the nature of U.S.-Russian relations as well. Now more than ever, America must support the reformers in Russia, including President Boris Yeltsin, but it must also prepare for the possibility that they will fail.